Cambodia, Maldives right choices for friendlies - Pan Gon
31 Oct 2022 12:03pm
National football head coach Kim Pan Gon - BERNAMA
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He said after discussing with several other teams and evaluating the matter internally, the decision was finally made to accept invitations from the Cambodia and Maldives national teams for the Tier 1 international matches.
"Cambodia are one of the participating teams in Group A where the selection of the team as opponents for the friendly match is seen as suitable in our efforts to identify the areas of improvement of the squad after regrouping for the centralised national camp.
"As for the match against the Maldives, although the team are not from Southeast Asia, they are two-time champions of the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Cup, winning in 2008 and 2018, as well as having
similar game patterns to other Southeast Asian teams," he said in a statement issued by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM).
The Harimau Malaya squad will face Cambodia on Dec 9 at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil and the Maldives on Dec 14 at the Kuala Lumpur Football Stadium in Cheras as warm-up matches ahead of the 2022 AFF campaign.
Malaysia are drawn in Group B with Vietnam, Singapore, Myanmar and Laos in the 2022 AFF Cup, which will end on Jan 16 next year.
For the competition this time, Malaysia will host Laos on Dec 24 and Singapore on Jan 3.
Harimau Malaya will also have the opportunity to play at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium if they qualify for the semi-finals, which will be held reciprocally on Jan 6 or 7 and Jan 9 or 10.
Malaysia have won the AFF Cup only once in the 2010 edition since the biennial tournament began in 1996 and emerged as runners-up in 1996, 2014 and 2018.
Thailand are the most successful team with six titles (1996, 2000, 2002, 2014, 2016, 2020), followed by Singapore with four (1998, 2004, 2007 and 2012) and Vietnam (2008 and 2018). - BERNAMA
